Dynamic Coverage Mode Switching and Communication Bandwidth Adjustment

ABSTRACT

This disclosure relates to techniques for dynamically changing coverage modes and/or communication bandwidth in a wireless communication system. According to some embodiments, a wireless device may attach to a serving cell associated with a cellular network. A volume of data for upcoming communication with the cellular network may be determined. An indication of a requested communication bandwidth may be provided to the serving cell. The wireless device may communicate data with the serving cell using the requested communication bandwidth. In some instances, a request for narrowband communication bandwidth may result in use of a coverage enhancement mode, while a request for wideband communication bandwidth may result in use of a normal coverage mode.

PRIORITY INFORMATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/206,090, entitled “Dynamic Coverage Mode Switching and CommunicationBandwidth Adjustment,” filed Nov. 30, 2018, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/685,601, entitled “Dynamic CoverageMode Switching and Communication Bandwidth Adjustment,” filed Aug. 24,2017, which claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser.No. 62/384,890, entitled “Dynamic Coverage Mode Switching,” filed Sep.8, 2016, and to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/412,423,entitled “Dynamic Communication Bandwidth Adjustment,” filed Oct. 25,2016, which are all hereby incorporated by reference in their entiretyas though fully and completely set forth herein.

The claims in the instant application are different than those of theparent application or other related applications. The Applicanttherefore rescinds any disclaimer of claim scope made in the parentapplication or any predecessor application in relation to the instantapplication. The Examiner is therefore advised that any such previousdisclaimer and the cited references that it was made to avoid, may needto be revisited. Further, any disclaimer made in the instant applicationshould not be read into or against the parent application or otherrelated applications.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to wireless communication, including totechniques for dynamically changing coverage mode and/or communicationbandwidth in a wireless communication system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. Further,wireless communication technology has evolved from voice-onlycommunications to also include the transmission of data, such asInternet and multimedia content.

Mobile electronic devices may take the form of smart phones or tabletsthat a user typically carries. Wearable devices (also referred to asaccessory devices) are a newer form of mobile electronic device, oneexample being smart watches. Additionally, low-cost low-complexitywireless devices intended for stationary or nomadic deployment are alsoproliferating as part of the developing “Internet of Things”. Many suchdevices have relatively limited wireless communications capabilities andtypically have smaller batteries than larger portable devices, such assmart phones and tablets. In general, it would be desirable to recognizeand provide support for the relatively limited wireless communicationcapabilities of such devices. Therefore, improvements in the field aredesired.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are presented herein of, inter alia, systems, apparatuses,and methods for dynamically changing between normal coverage andenhanced coverage modes, and for dynamically changing the communicationbandwidth used by a wireless device, in a wireless communication system.

As an increasingly diverse set of use cases for wireless communicationis developed, so too are the range of types of wireless communication,and in some cases of communication modes. Some devices may be capable ofutilizing multiple such modes; for example, some devices may be capableof utilizing more bandwidth at some times (e.g., when radio conditionsare good, at times of high and/or demanding user activity, when batteryreserves are relatively high, etc.), and also capable of utilizing lessbandwidth communication at some times (e.g., when radio conditions arepoor, at times of low and/or undemanding user activity, when batteryreserves are relatively low, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, somedevices may be capable of utilizing normal coverage features (e.g.,which may allow for lower latency and/or higher throughput in good radioconditions) at some times, and also capable of utilizing enhancedcoverage features (e.g., which may allow for communication in poorerradio conditions than might be possible using normal coverage features,possibly at a cost of higher latency and/or lower throughput) at sometimes.

Accordingly, techniques are presented herein for dynamically switchingbetween coverage modes and/or communication bandwidths. Note that insome instances, different coverage modes may have differentcommunication bandwidths, such that modifying a wireless device'scoverage mode may also modify the wireless device's communicationbandwidth, and/or vice versa. Alternatively, coverage modes andcommunication bandwidths can be configured separately, if desired.

The dynamic switching of coverage modes and/or communication bandwidthsmay be based on any of various considerations. As one possibility, theamount of communication bandwidth used may depend at least in part onthe expected volume of upcoming data communication to and/or from awireless device. As another possibility, the coverage mode used maydepend at least in part on an assessment of current radio conditionsexperienced by the wireless device. In some instances, battery powerlevels and/or charging/not charging status of the wireless device mayalso or alternatively be considered.

Such techniques may allow wireless devices to adapt to changing radioconditions, upcoming communication data volumes, battery reserve levelscenarios, and/or other conditions in a manner that may improve userexperience, reduce wireless device power consumption, and/or result inmore efficient network resource usage, at least according to someembodiments.

The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with anumber of different types of devices, including but not limited tocellular phones, tablet computers, accessory and/or wearable computingdevices, portable media players, cellular base stations and othercellular network infrastructure equipment, servers, and any of variousother computing devices.

This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtainedwhen the following detailed description of the embodiments is consideredin conjunction with the following drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system including anaccessory device, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system where an accessory device canselectively either directly communicate with a cellular base station orutilize the cellular capabilities of an intermediate or proxy devicesuch as a smart phone, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example wireless device,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example base station,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram illustrating an exemplary method fordynamically changing between normal coverage and enhanced coverage modesfor a wireless device, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram illustrating an exemplary method fordynamically changing the communication bandwidth used by a wirelessdevice, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates exemplary possible normal and extended coverage cellranges, according to some embodiments; and

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary state diagram with possible statetransitions for changing between normal and enhanced coverage modesbased at least in part on data volume to manage communication bandwidth,according to some embodiments.

While the features described herein are susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof areshown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described indetail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particularform disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Terminology

The following are definitions of terms used in this disclosure:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices orstorage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include aninstallation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; acomputer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM,SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash,magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, orother similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium mayinclude other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinationsthereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a firstcomputer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located ina second different computer system which connects to the first computersystem over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, thesecond computer system may provide program instructions to the firstcomputer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or morememory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., indifferent computer systems that are connected over a network. The memorymedium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computerprograms) that may be executed by one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable Hardware Element—includes various hardware devicescomprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via aprogrammable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (FieldProgrammable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmablefunction blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processorcores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as“reconfigurable logic”.

Computer System—any of various types of computing or processing systems,including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system,workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digitalassistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or otherdevice or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computersystem” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combinationof devices) having at least one processor that executes instructionsfrom a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which are mobile or portable and which performs wirelesscommunications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones orsmart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gamingdevices (e.g., Nintendo DS™ PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™,iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g. smart watch, smart glasses),PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, orother handheld devices, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device”can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/ortelecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easilytransported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Wireless Device—any of various types of computer system devices whichperforms wireless communications. A wireless device can be portable (ormobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is anexample of a wireless device.

Communication Device—any of various types of computer systems or devicesthat perform communications, where the communications can be wired orwireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile) or may bestationary or fixed at a certain location. A wireless device is anexample of a communication device. A UE is another example of acommunication device.

Base Station—The term “Base Station” (also called “eNB”) has the fullbreadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a wirelesscommunication station installed at a fixed location and used tocommunicate as part of a wireless cellular communication system.

Link Budget Limited—includes the full breadth of its ordinary meaning,and at least includes a characteristic of a wireless device (e.g., a UE)which exhibits limited communication capabilities, or limited power,relative to a device that is not link budget limited, or relative todevices for which a radio access technology (RAT) standard has beendeveloped. A wireless device that is link budget limited may experiencerelatively limited reception and/or transmission capabilities, which maybe due to one or more factors such as device design, device size,battery size, antenna size or design, transmit power, receive power,current transmission medium conditions, and/or other factors. Suchdevices may be referred to herein as “link budget limited” (or “linkbudget constrained”) devices. A device may be inherently link budgetlimited due to its size, battery power, and/or transmit/receive power.For example, a smart watch that is communicating over LTE or LTE-A witha base station may be inherently link budget limited due to its reducedtransmit/receive power and/or reduced antenna. Wearable devices, such assmart watches, are generally link budget limited devices. Alternatively,a device may not be inherently link budget limited, e.g., may havesufficient size, battery power, and/or transmit/receive power for normalcommunications over LTE or LTE-A, but may be temporarily link budgetlimited due to current communication conditions, e.g., a smart phonebeing at the edge of a cell, etc. It is noted that the term “link budgetlimited” includes or encompasses power limitations, and thus a powerlimited device may be considered a link budget limited device.

Processing Element (or Processor)—refers to various elements orcombinations of elements. Processing elements include, for example,circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit),portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processorcores, individual processors, programmable hardware devices such as afield programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or larger portions of systemsthat include multiple processors.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to”perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broadrecitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the taskor tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured toperform the task even when the component is not currently performingthat task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured toelectrically connect a module to another module, even when the twomodules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be abroad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that”performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component canbe configured to perform the task even when the component is notcurrently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structurecorresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph six, interpretation for thatcomponent.

FIGS. 1-2—Wireless Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless cellular communicationsystem. It is noted that FIG. 1 represents one possibility among many,and that features of the present disclosure may be implemented in any ofvarious systems, as desired. For example, embodiments described hereinmay be implemented in any type of wireless device.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes acellular base station 102, which communicates over a transmission mediumwith one or more wireless devices 106A, 106B, etc., as well as accessorydevice 107. Wireless devices 106A, 106B, and 107 may be user devices,which may be referred to herein as “user equipment” (UE) or UE devices.

The base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cellsite, and may include hardware that enables wireless communication withthe UE devices 106A, 106B, and 107. The base station 102 may also beequipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of acellular service provider, a telecommunication network such as a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), and/or the Internet, among variouspossibilities). Thus, the base station 102 may facilitate communicationamong the UE devices 106 and 107 and/or between the UE devices 106/107and the network 100. In other implementations, base station 102 can beconfigured to provide communications over one or more other wirelesstechnologies, such as an access point supporting one or more WLANprotocols, such as 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac, ad, and/or ax, or LTE in anunlicensed band (LAA).

The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station 102 may bereferred to as a “cell.” The base station 102 and the UEs 106/107 may beconfigured to communicate over the transmission medium using any ofvarious radio access technologies (RATs) or wireless communicationtechnologies, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced(LTE-A), NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD),Wi-Fi, WiMAX etc.

Base station 102 and other similar base stations (not shown) operatingaccording to one or more cellular communication technologies may thus beprovided as a network of cells, which may provide continuous or nearlycontinuous overlapping service to UE devices 106A-N and 107 and similardevices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communicationtechnologies.

Note that at least in some instances a UE device 106/107 may be capableof communicating using any of multiple wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, a UE device 106/107 might be configured tocommunicate using one or more of GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, LTE, LTE-A,NR, WLAN, Bluetooth, one or more global navigational satellite systems(GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one and/or more mobile televisionbroadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H), etc. Other combinations ofwireless communication technologies (including more than two wirelesscommunication technologies) are also possible. Likewise, in someinstances a UE device 106/107 may be configured to communicate usingonly a single wireless communication technology.

The UEs 106A and 106B are typically handheld devices such as smartphones or tablets, but may be any of various types of device withcellular communications capability. For example, one or more of the UEs106A and 106B may be a wireless device intended for stationary ornomadic deployment such as an appliance, measurement device, controldevice, etc. The UE 106B may be configured to communicate with the UEdevice 107, which may be referred to as an accessory device 107. Theaccessory device 107 may be any of various types of wireless devices,typically a wearable device that has a smaller form factor, and may havelimited battery, output power and/or communications abilities relativeto UEs 106. As one common example, the UE 106B may be a smart phonecarried by a user, and the accessory device 107 may be a smart watchworn by that same user. The UE 106B and the accessory device 107 maycommunicate using any of various short range communication protocols,such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

The accessory device 107 includes cellular communication capability andhence is able to directly communicate with cellular base station 102.However, since the accessory device 107 is possibly one or more ofcommunication, output power and/or battery limited, the accessory device107 may in some instances selectively utilize the UE 106B as a proxy forcommunication purposes with the base station 102 and hence to thenetwork 100. In other words, the accessory device 107 may selectivelyuse the cellular communication capabilities of the UE 106B to conductits cellular communications. The limitation on communication abilitiesof the accessory device 107 can be permanent, e.g., due to limitationsin output power or the radio access technologies (RATs) supported, ortemporary, e.g., due to conditions such as current battery status,inability to access a network, or poor reception.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example accessory device 107 in communication withbase station 102. The accessory device 107 may be a wearable device suchas a smart watch. The accessory device 107 may comprise cellularcommunication capability and be capable of directly communicating withthe base station 102 as shown. When the accessory device 107 isconfigured to directly communicate with the base station, the accessorydevice may be said to be in “autonomous mode.”

The accessory device 107 may also be capable of communicating withanother device (e.g., UE 106), referred to as a proxy device orintermediate device, using a short range communications protocol; forexample, the accessory device 107 may according to some embodiments be“paired” with the UE 106. Under some circumstances, the accessory device107 may use the cellular functionality of this proxy device forcommunicating cellular voice/data with the base station 102. In otherwords, the accessory device 107 may provide voice/data packets intendedfor the base station 102 over the short range link to the UE 106, andthe UE 106 may use its cellular functionality to transmit (or relay)this voice/data to the base station on behalf of the accessory device107. Similarly, the voice/data packets transmitted by the base stationand intended for the accessory device 107 may be received by thecellular functionality of the UE 106 and then may be relayed over theshort range link to the accessory device. As noted above, the UE 106 maybe a mobile phone, a tablet, or any other type of hand-held device, amedia player, a computer, a laptop or virtually any type of wirelessdevice. When the accessory device 107 is configured to indirectlycommunicate with the base station using the cellular functionality of anintermediate or proxy device, the accessory device may be said to be in“relay mode.”

The UE 106 and/or 107 may include a device or integrated circuit forfacilitating cellular communication, referred to as a cellular modem.The cellular modem may include one or more processors (processingelements) and various hardware components as described herein. The UE106 and/or 107 may perform any of the method embodiments describedherein by executing instructions on one or more programmable processors.Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more processors may be one ormore programmable hardware elements such as an FPGA (field-programmablegate array), or other circuitry, that is configured to perform any ofthe method embodiments described herein, or any portion of any of themethod embodiments described herein. The cellular modem described hereinmay be used in a UE device as defined herein, a wireless device asdefined herein, or a communication device as defined herein. Thecellular modem described herein may also be used in a base station orother similar network side device.

The UE 106 and/or 107 may include one or more antennas for communicatingusing two or more wireless communication protocols or radio accesstechnologies. In some embodiments, the UE device 106/107 might beconfigured to communicate using a single shared radio. The shared radiomay couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas(e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. Alternatively,the UE device 106/107 may include two or more radios. Otherconfigurations are also possible.

The accessory device 107 may be any of various types of devices that, insome embodiments, have a smaller form factor relative to a conventionalsmart phone, and may have one or more of limited communicationcapabilities, limited output power, or limited battery life relative toa conventional smart phone. As noted above, in some embodiments, theaccessory device 107 is a smart watch or other type of wearable device.As another example, the accessory device 107 may be a tablet device,such as an iPad, with Wi-Fi capabilities (and possibly limited or nocellular communication capabilities), which is not currently near aWi-Fi hotspot and hence is not currently able to communicate over Wi-Fiwith the Internet. Thus, as defined above, the term “accessory device”refers to any of various types of devices that in some instances havelimited or reduced communication capabilities and hence may selectivelyand opportunistically utilize the UE 106 as a proxy for communicationpurposes for one or more applications and/or RATs. When the UE 106 iscapable of being used by the accessory device 107 as a proxy, the UE 106may be referred to as a companion device to the accessory device 107.

FIG. 3—Block Diagram of a UE Device

FIG. 3 illustrates one possible block diagram of an UE device, such asUE device 106 or 107. As shown, the UE device 106/107 may include asystem on chip (SOC) 300, which may include portions for variouspurposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s)302 which may execute program instructions for the UE device 106/107,and display circuitry 304 which may perform graphics processing andprovide display signals to the display 360. The SOC 300 may also includemotion sensing circuitry 370 which may detect motion of the UE 106, forexample using a gyroscope, accelerometer, and/or any of various othermotion sensing components. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled tomemory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receiveaddresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses tolocations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, flashmemory 310). The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protectionand page table translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340may be included as a portion of the processor(s) 302.

As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE106/107. For example, the UE 106/107 may include various types of memory(e.g., including NAND flash 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., forcoupling to a computer system, dock, charging station, etc.), thedisplay 360, and wireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE,LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, etc.).

The UE device 106/107 may include at least one antenna, and in someembodiments multiple antennas 335 a and 335 b, for performing wirelesscommunication with base stations and/or other devices. For example, theUE device 106/107 may use antennas 335 a and 335 b to perform thewireless communication. As noted above, the UE device 106/107 may insome embodiments be configured to communicate wirelessly using aplurality of wireless communication standards or radio accesstechnologies (RATs).

The wireless communication circuitry 330 may include Wi-Fi Logic 332, aCellular Modem 334, and Bluetooth Logic 336. The Wi-Fi Logic 332 is forenabling the UE device 106/107 to perform Wi-Fi communications on an802.11 network. The Bluetooth Logic 336 is for enabling the UE device106/107 to perform Bluetooth communications. The cellular modem 334 maybe a lower power cellular modem capable of performing cellularcommunication according to one or more cellular communicationtechnologies.

As described herein, UE 106/107 may include hardware and softwarecomponents for implementing embodiments of this disclosure. For example,one or more components of the wireless communication circuitry 330(e.g., cellular modem 334) of the UE device 106/107 may be configured toimplement part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by aprocessor executing program instructions stored on a memory medium(e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), a processorconfigured as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and/or usingdedicated hardware components, which may include an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit).

FIG. 4—Block Diagram of a Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG.4 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the basestation 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute programinstructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also becoupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured toreceive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory(ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Thenetwork port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network andprovide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106/107, access tothe telephone network as described above in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also oralternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., acore network of a cellular service provider. The core network mayprovide mobility related services and/or other services to a pluralityof devices, such as UE devices 106/107. For example, the core networkmay include a mobility management entity (MME), e.g., for providingmobility management services, a serving gateway (SGW) and/or packet datanetwork gateway (PGW), e.g., for providing external data connectionssuch as to the Internet, etc. In some cases, the network port 470 maycouple to a telephone network via the core network, and/or the corenetwork may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devicesserviced by the cellular service provider).

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possiblymultiple antennas. The antenna(s) 434 may be configured to operate as awireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate withUE devices 106/107 via radio 430. The antenna(s) 434 communicates withthe radio 430 via communication chain 432. Communication chain 432 maybe a receive chain, a transmit chain or both. The radio 430 may beconfigured to communicate via various wireless communication standards,including, but not limited to, LTE, LTE-A, NR, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000,Wi-Fi, etc.

The base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly usingmultiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, the basestation 102 may include multiple radios, which may enable the basestation 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 mayinclude an LTE radio for performing communication according to LTE aswell as a Wi-Fi radio for performing communication according to Wi-Fi.In such a case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as bothan LTE base station and a Wi-Fi access point. As another possibility,the base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio which is capable ofperforming communications according to any of multiple wirelesscommunication technologies (e.g., LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE andCDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

As described further subsequently herein, the BS 102 may includehardware and software components for implementing features describedherein. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured toimplement part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., byexecuting program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, theprocessor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively(or in addition) the processor 404 of the BS 102, in conjunction withone or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or allof the features described herein.

FIGS. 5-6—Flowchart Diagrams

As cellular communication technologies evolve, an increasing number ofcellular communication capable devices are expected to be deployed. Oneof the reasons for the continuing increase in the numbers of devicesincludes the development and spread of devices performing machine typecommunication (MTC). Such devices, which may include stationary deployeddevices, wearable devices, and/or other devices forming part of the“Internet of Things”, may commonly be designed to perform frequentand/or periodic small data transmissions.

In view of the potentially more limited expected usage scenarios forsuch devices, devices primarily expected to perform MTC may commonly belower-complexity devices than many other common cellular devices (e.g.,handheld cellular phones, etc.), for example to reduce the size, cost ofmanufacture, and/or cost to the consumer of such devices. Accordingly,in many instances the communication capability (e.g., number and/orpower level of antennas, battery capability, communication range, etc.)of such devices may be relatively limited. For example, many suchdevices may be considered link budget limited devices.

This may present difficulties in a wireless communication system thatprimarily supports wireless devices with greater communicationcapability. Accordingly, at least some wireless communicationtechnologies are being revised and/or developed in a manner to supportlink budget limited devices (e.g., in addition to those wireless devicesthat are not link budget limited).

For example, at least some cellular communication systems may be capableof providing multiple coverage modes, e.g., to help accommodate wirelessdevices with different communication capabilities and/or operating indifferent radio conditions. Such coverage modes could include a normalcoverage mode (e.g., for wireless devices experiencing good radioconditions) along with one or more enhanced coverage modes (e.g., forwireless devices experiencing varying degrees of poorer radioconditions, whether as a result of inherent device capabilities, currentconditions, or some combination thereof), as one possibility.

In many instances a wireless device may predominantly or exclusivelyoperate in just one of the coverage modes offered; for example, a MTCdevice in a stationary deployment might always operate in an enhancedcoverage mode based on its particular combination of devicecharacteristics and typical radio conditions with its serving cell, asone possibility. However, as part of the increasing breadth of devicecapabilities and intended uses, at least some subset of wireless devicesmay experience a variety of radio conditions such that they would bebetter served by different coverage modes at different times. For suchdevices, providing techniques for switching between different coveragemodes may improve operating efficiency, e.g., by extending servicecoverage range and/or reducing power consumption.

Accordingly, FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method fordynamically switching between coverage modes, according to someembodiments. In various embodiments, some of the elements of the methodsshown may be performed concurrently, in a different order than shown,may be substituted for by other method elements, or may be omitted.Additional method elements may also be performed as desired.

Aspects of the method of FIG. 5 may be implemented by a wireless device,such as a UE 106 or 107 illustrated in and described with respect toFIGS. 1-3 and/or a base station 102 such as illustrated in and describedwith respect to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, or more generally in conjunction withany of the computer systems or devices shown in the above Figures, amongother devices, as desired. Note that while at least some elements of themethod of FIG. 5 are described in a manner relating to the use ofcommunication techniques and/or features associated with LTE and/or 3GPPspecification documents, such description is not intended to be limitingto the disclosure, and aspects of the method of FIG. 5 may be used inany suitable wireless communication system, as desired. As shown, themethod may operate as follows.

In 502, the wireless device may camp on a serving cell provided by acellular base station. The serving cell may provide cellularcommunication service according to a wireless communication technology(or “radio access technology” or “RAT”), such as LTE, NR, UMTS,CDMA2000, etc. To camp on the serving cell, the wireless device maydetect that the serving cell exists, obtain timing synchronization anddecode system information for the serving cell, and attach to the cell(e.g., by performing an attachment procedure), according to someembodiments. The wireless device may operate in an idle mode (e.g.,after releasing an initial connection to perform the attachmentprocedure), and/or may operate in a connected mode (e.g., while a radioresource control (RRC) connection is established), at various timeswhile camping on the serving cell.

The serving cell may provide the wireless device with a communicationlink to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular serviceprovider (e.g., with which a user of the wireless device may have asubscription and/or other agreement to provide cellular service). Whenoperating in connected mode with the serving cell, the cellular networkmay thus provide connectivity between the user device and variousservices and/or devices coupled to the cellular network, such as otheruser devices, a public switched telephone network, the Internet, variouscloud-based services, etc. A variety of possible data types, withdifferent characteristics, may be transmitted via the serving cell. Inaddition, various signaling messages may be exchanged at various timesto establish, maintain, reconfigure, and/or otherwise provide signalingfunctionality between the wireless device and the serving cell.

In 504, the wireless device may determine that the serving cell supportsa normal coverage mode and an enhanced coverage mode. According to someembodiments, the enhanced coverage mode may also be referred to as a“coverage enhancement” or “CE” mode. Additional coverage modes may alsobe supported, at least in some instances. For example, the serving cellmay provide multiple CE modes (e.g., CE modes A and B, according to atleast some LTE implementations), each intended to extend coverage todevices experiencing a different range of radio conditions, as onepossibility.

The serving cell may advertise which coverage modes it supports. Forexample, the serving cell may broadcast system information (e.g., in oneor more master information blocks (MIBs) and/or system informationblocks (SIBs) that indicates that one or more enhanced coverage modesare supported in addition to the normal coverage mode. Additionally, atleast according to some embodiments, various characteristics and/orparameters of at least some of the coverage modes supported may beindicated in the system information. For example, signal strength and/orsignal quality ranges corresponding to different coverage modes may beindicated by the serving cell in the system information. As anotherexample, parameters for indicating which coverage mode a wireless deviceis requesting/using may be indicated. Other characteristics and/orparameters of the enhanced coverage mode and/or normal coverage mode mayalso be indicated by the serving cell. Alternatively, or in addition,some or all information defining the characteristics and parameters ofthe various coverage modes offered may be standardised and may thus beimplied with an indication of a standard (and possibly version/release)according to which the serving cell operates.

In 506, the wireless device may determine to which coverage mode offeredby the serving cell current radio conditions experienced by the wirelessdevice correspond. As part of such determination, the wireless devicemay measure the current radio conditions experienced by the wirelessdevice. For example, the wireless device may perform one or more servingcell measurements, which may measure signal strength, signal quality,and/or any other desired characteristics of the serving cell, as definedby reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal receivedquality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), receivedsignal strength indicator (RSSI), received signal code power (RSCP),Energy to Interference Ratio (Ec/Io), and/or any of various otherpossible metrics.

Once the current radio conditions (e.g., including signalstrength/quality/etc.) have been measured, the wireless device maycompare those radio conditions to the range(s) provided by the servingcell to determine into which range they fall, and accordingly whichcoverage mode would currently be appropriate for the wireless device.

In 508, the wireless device may trigger the serving cell to providecoverage according to the coverage mode corresponding to the currentradio conditions experienced by the wireless device. For example, if theradio conditions for the wireless device are determined to correspond tothe normal coverage mode (e.g., if measured signal strength and/orsignal quality values fall within a range defined by the serving cell ascorresponding to normal coverage), the wireless device may trigger theserving cell to provide normal coverage, and the wireless device mayoperate in the normal coverage mode. If the radio conditions for thewireless device are determined to have changed to correspond to theextended coverage mode (e.g., if measured signal strength and/or signalquality values have changed and now fall within a range defined by theserving cell as corresponding to extended coverage), the wireless devicemay trigger the serving cell to provide extended coverage, and thewireless device may operate in the extended coverage mode. Thus, thewireless device may dynamically adjust its coverage mode as determinedto be appropriate, which may at least in part depend on the radioconditions experienced by the wireless device.

The wireless device may be able to determine to which coverage mode itscurrent radio conditions correspond and to trigger the serving cell toprovide coverage according to a particular coverage mode when thewireless device is operating in either of idle mode or connected mode,at least according to some embodiments.

According to some embodiments, the trigger to provide coverage accordingto a particular coverage mode may include performing a random accesschannel (RACH) procedure using a physical random access channel (PRACH)preamble associated with the desired coverage mode. As previously noted,the serving cell may have indicated parameters that can be used forindicating which coverage mode a wireless device is requesting/using,e.g., as part of its system information broadcasts; informationindicating which PRACH preambles are associated with which coveragemodes may be included among such indications, according to someembodiments. The trigger to provide coverage according to a particularcoverage mode may also (or alternatively) include performing a mobilitymanagement (MM) action, such as performing a tracking area update (TAU)procedure with a mobility management entity (MME) serving the wirelessdevice. In this way, both the base station providing the serving cell tothe wireless device, and the MME that manages paging (among othermobility management operations) for the wireless device may be informedof the coverage mode according to which the wireless device is currentlyoperating.

As a result of such triggering the serving cell (and potentially MME) toupdate the coverage mode of the wireless device, subsequent paging andother communication may be performed using the indicated coverage mode.For example, different control channels may be associated with pagingwhen operating the normal coverage mode versus when operating in theenhanced coverage mode. Thus, after the wireless device triggersenabling of the enhanced coverage mode for the wireless device, when theMME determines to page the wireless device, the group of base stationsattempting to page the wireless device may be informed that the wirelessdevice is in the enhanced coverage mode, and may perform paging usingthe control channel associated with the enhanced coverage mode. If thewireless device then later determines that its radio conditions haveagain changed to correspond to the normal coverage mode and triggersenabling of the normal coverage mode for the wireless device, when theMME determines to page the wireless device, the group of base stationsattempting to page the wireless device may be informed that the wirelessdevice is in the normal coverage mode, and may perform paging using thecontrol channel associated with the normal coverage mode.

As previously noted, being able to dynamically modify the coverage modeof a wireless device may improve the operating efficiency of thewireless device. For example, when radio conditions correspond to theenhanced coverage mode, the wireless device may be unable tosuccessfully communicate using normal coverage mode communicationtechniques and parameters, so switching to the enhanced coverage modemay be necessary in order to allow the wireless device to communicatewith the serving cell at all, and may reduce wasted power consumptionfrom unsuccessful communication attempts. When radio conditionscorrespond to the normal coverage mode, the wireless device may be ableto utilize more power-efficient communication techniques and/or may beable to obtain greater throughput, so switching to the normal coveragemode may improve the power consumption efficiency of the wireless deviceand/or allow for more extensive data communication.

However, it should be noted that in order for a wireless device totrigger a coverage mode switch for the wireless device, additionalsignaling traffic may be performed, at least according to someembodiments. For example, as noted above herein, at least in someinstances a wireless device may trigger a coverage mode switch byperforming a RACH procedure using a PRACH preamble associated with acoverage mode that is different than its current coverage mode.According to some embodiments, it may be desirable to limit suchadditional signaling. For example, according to some embodiments, awireless device may be configured to implement a timer limiting thefrequency of triggering coverage mode changes, and/or may implement ahysteresis with respect to the signal strength/quality ranges/valuesassociated with different coverage modes. Accordingly, the followingtechniques may be used supplementally or as alternatives to thepreviously described techniques for triggering switching betweencoverage modes, e.g., to limit such additional signaling while stillobtaining the benefits of multiple coverage modes to a substantialdegree.

As one possible technique, in some embodiments a cellular network may beconfigured such that when the network is paging a wireless device, someinitial number of attempts n may be performed using a control channelassociated with the normal coverage mode, and if the wireless devicedoes not respond to the paging attempts using the control channelassociated with the normal coverage mode, some additional number ofattempts m may be performed using a control channel associated with theenhanced coverage mode. The wireless device may be configured such thatit monitors the control channel associated with the normal coverage modefor paging messages when radio conditions for the wireless device are ina range corresponding to the normal coverage mode, and monitors thecontrol channel associated with the enhanced coverage mode for pagingmessages when radio conditions for the wireless device are in a rangecorresponding to the enhanced coverage mode. Further, if desired, thewireless device may monitor both the control channel associated with thenormal coverage mode and the control channel associated with theenhanced coverage mode for paging messages when radio conditions for thewireless device are in a range between the range corresponding to thenormal coverage mode and the range corresponding to the enhancedcoverage mode.

Such a technique may still be susceptible to missed pages, for exampleif paging is being performed on the control channel that the wirelessdevice is not monitoring; additionally, if a wireless deviceconcurrently monitors multiple control channels for paging messages,this may consume more power than monitoring a single control channel forpaging messages. Accordingly, as another (additional or alternative)possibility, a network may provide wireless devices with an option torequest that paging always be performed using the control channelassociated with the enhanced coverage mode. For example, according toLTE, when establishing a RRC connection, a UE radio access capabilityelement indicating ‘page on mPDCCH’ as TRUE can be used to indicate to abase station to always perform paging for a wireless device using themPDCCH. Based on receiving such an indication, the serving base stationof the wireless device may indicate to the MME for the wireless devicethat the wireless device is in enhanced coverage, even if the wirelessdevice is otherwise operating in (and experiencing radio conditionsassociated with) normal coverage. The MME may accordingly page thewireless device using the mPDCCH (e.g., as opposed to the PDCCH) when ithas a paging message for the wireless device.

As a possible further consideration relating to in which coverage mode awireless device chooses to operate, and as a more general considerationfor improving operating efficiency, in some embodiments a wirelessdevice may also monitor the data volume with which it expects tocommunicate in conjunction with the bandwidth of it's communicationlink. For example, in a communication system with variable bandwidthcommunication channels, such as LTE, there can be a substantialdifference in a wireless device's power consumption when operating in awideband communication mode (e.g., using a larger amount of bandwidth)versus when operating in a narrowband communication mode (e.g., using asmaller amount of bandwidth). Thus, at least in some instances, it mayimprove the power consumption profile of a wireless device to manageit's communication bandwidth such that smaller amounts of bandwidth canbe used when data volumes are lower and larger amounts of bandwidth canbe used (e.g., just as needed) when data volumes are higher.

Accordingly, FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method fordynamically adjusting between communication bandwidths, according tosome embodiments. In various embodiments, some of the elements of themethods shown may be performed concurrently, in a different order thanshown, may be substituted for by other method elements, or may beomitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired.

Aspects of the method of FIG. 6 may be implemented by a wireless device,such as a UE 106 or 107 illustrated in and described with respect toFIGS. 1-3 and/or a base station 102 such as illustrated in and describedwith respect to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, or more generally in conjunction withany of the computer systems or devices shown in the above Figures, amongother devices, as desired. Note that while at least some elements of themethod of FIG. 6 are described in a manner relating to the use ofcommunication techniques and/or features associated with LTE and/or 3GPPspecification documents, such description is not intended to be limitingto the disclosure, and aspects of the method of FIG. 6 may be used inany suitable wireless communication system, as desired. As shown, themethod may operate as follows.

In 602, the wireless device may determine a data volume for upcomingwireless communication with a cellular network. The wireless device maybe camped on a serving cell associated with the cellular network, towhich it may have attached and from which it may receive cellularcommunication services in a similar manner as described herein withrespect to step 502 of FIG. 5.

Any of a variety of techniques may be used to determine the data volumefor the upcoming wireless communication, according to variousembodiments. As one possibility, determining the data volume for theupcoming wireless communication may include determining the volume ofdata buffered (e.g., at baseband and/or application layers) at thewireless device to be communicated with the cellular network. As another(additional or alternative) possibility, determining the data volume forthe upcoming wireless communication may include determining one or moretypes of current and/or upcoming data activity at the wireless device.Since different applications (and more generally different types ofapplications) executing at the wireless device may have differenttypical data volumes to be communicated over time (e.g., may havedifferent communication patterns), at least in some instances monitoringthe type of data activity or activities occurring may be helpful in atleast approximately predicting data volumes beyond the volume of datacurrently buffered for communication with the cellular network.

According to some embodiments, the wireless device may further determinehow the determined data volume compares to one or more data volumethresholds. For example, the wireless device may determine whether theexpected data volume is above or below a data volume threshold, e.g., todetermine whether a relatively wideband communication bandwidth or arelatively narrowband communication bandwidth would be more suitable forthe expected upcoming data volume. Multiple such data volume thresholdscould be used if desired, e.g., to facilitate associating differentranges of expected data volumes with different possible communicationbandwidths or bandwidth ranges. As another possibility, differentpossible communication bandwidths or bandwidth ranges may be associateddirectly with different types of data activities. For example, dataactivities with relatively low throughput requirements and/or priorities(e.g., voice calls, background/synchronization data transfers, etc.,according to some embodiments) may be associated with narrowercommunication bandwidths, while data activities with relatively highthroughput requirements and/or priorities (e.g., streaming video, largedownloads, etc., according to some embodiments) may be associated withwider communication bandwidths.

In 604, the wireless device may request a communication bandwidth forcommunicating with the serving cell based at least in part on thedetermined data volume. At least according to some embodiments, thewireless device may generally request wider communication bandwidth forhigher data volumes and narrower communication bandwidth for lower datavolumes. Note that any number of possible techniques or algorithms maybe used by a wireless device to determine what communication bandwidthto request at any given time, and likewise the manner of requesting thedesired communication bandwidth may vary considerably, e.g., dependingon desired implementation details.

As discussed previously herein (e.g., with respect to FIG. 5), in atleast some cellular communication systems, multiple coverage modes maybe offered by at least some cells. In many instances, such differentcoverage modes may have different communication bandwidth profiles. Forexample, according to LTE release 13, CE mode A is limited to 1.4 MHznarrowband communication capable of supporting approximately 1 Mbps/1Mbps uplink/downlink communication, while normal coverage mode canprovide up to 20 MHz wideband communication capable of supportingapproximately 5 Mbps/10 Mbps uplink/downlink communication. Note thatother LTE releases or revisions, as well as other communication systems,can have different coverage modes with different communication bandwidthpossibilities and supported throughput capabilities, and that theseexample values are not intended to be limiting to this disclosure.

Thus, in a communication system that offers multiple coverage modes withdifferent communication bandwidth profiles, one possible way toeffectively request a particular communication bandwidth (or at least arelative amount of bandwidth) may include requesting a particularcoverage mode. For example, to request narrowband communicationbandwidth, a wireless device may request that its serving cell provideCE mode service, while to request wideband communication bandwidth, thewireless device may request that its serving cell provide normal modeservice, in some embodiments.

Note that in such a scenario (and potentially in other scenarios), awireless device may also consider the current wireless medium (e.g., RF)conditions being experienced by the wireless device when determining thecoverage mode (or communication bandwidth more generally) to request,e.g., as this may place a constraint on or otherwise influence whichcoverage mode/communication bandwidth to request. For example, if awireless device is experiencing radio conditions that correspond to a CEmode, the wireless device may determine to request switching to (or mayremain in) the CE mode, even if there is a larger data volume forupcoming wireless communication. Otherwise, the wireless device mightdetermine to operate in the normal coverage mode when the volume of datafor upcoming communication with the cellular network is associated witha relatively wideband communication bandwidth (e.g., if the expecteddata volume is above a data volume threshold) and when radio conditionsfor the wireless device correspond to the normal coverage mode.Similarly, the wireless device might determine to operate in the CE modewhen the volume of data for upcoming communication with the cellularnetwork is associated with a relatively narrowband communicationbandwidth (e.g., if the expected data volume is below the data volumethreshold), e.g., potentially even if the radio conditions for thewireless device correspond to the normal coverage mode.

Thus, in a system in which the communication bandwidth for communicationbetween a wireless device and a cellular network can be requested by wayof requesting or triggering a change in the coverage mode provided bythe serving cell of the wireless device, similar signaling techniques asdescribed herein with respect to FIG. 5 may be used to request aparticular communication bandwidth or a communication bandwidth range,at least according to some embodiments.

Additionally or alternatively, in such a system or more generally inother possible wireless communication systems, it is also possible toutilize other signaling techniques for requesting a particularcommunication bandwidth or a communication bandwidth range. For example,according to some embodiments, a wireless device may provide a bufferstatus report to its serving cell, e.g., indicating its expected volumeof data for upcoming communication, as an indicator of or request for aparticular communication bandwidth or a communication bandwidth range.As another example, a media access control (MAC) control element or RRCmessage that is designed to allow a wireless device to request acommunication bandwidth mode from multiple possible communicationbandwidth modes may be defined, and a wireless device may provide such aMAC control element or RRC message to its serving cell to request acommunication bandwidth mode.

Based on the communication bandwidth request, the serving cell mayconfigure its service to the wireless device to use the requestedcommunication bandwidth and/or confirm that its service to the wirelessdevice will use the requested communication bandwidth. For example, anRRC connection reconfiguration message configuring and confirming thebandwidth mode (and/or coverage mode) may be provided to the wirelessdevice in response to the communication bandwidth request, as onepossibility. Other signaling messages or techniques may also oralternatively be used to confirm the use of the requested communicationbandwidth, as desired.

In 606, the wireless device may communicate with the serving cell usingthe requested communication bandwidth. For example, the wireless devicemay perform uplink communication to transmit the data buffered at thewireless device for upcoming communication with the cellular networkusing the communication bandwidth, and/or may perform downlinkcommunication to receive data from the cellular network via the servingcell using the communication bandwidth.

Note the requested communication bandwidth may relate just to uplinkcommunication, just to downlink communication or to both uplink anddownlink communication, as various possibilities. For example, there maybe circumstances in which different communication bandwidths arepreferable for downlink and uplink communication, and/or there may becommunications systems with asymmetric uplink/downlink communicationcharacteristics such that variable communication bandwidth is onlypossible in one direction, or such that possible communication bandwidthranges differ for different communication directions, and/or such thatcommunication characteristics differ in any of various other ways.

Note further that at least in some embodiments, when a wireless devicehas configured its communication link with its serving cell according toa particular communication bandwidth mode, the wireless device may alsoconfigure its RF circuitry to operate in an associated bandwidth mode.For example, if the communication link has been configured as anarrowband communication link (e.g., with a specified maximumcommunication bandwidth), the RF circuitry may likewise be configured tooperate in a mode with similar bandwidth characteristics. Such RFconfiguration may help reduce power consumption by the wireless device,as at least in some instances the RF circuitry may consume more powerwhen performing (or potentially even when configured to perform)wideband communication than when performing narrowband communication.

FIGS. 7-8

FIGS. 7-8 and the following additional information, which relate topossible characteristics and parameters of a possible enhanced coveragemode in an example cellular communication system that operates accordingto LTE release 13, are provided as being illustrative of furtherconsiderations and possible implementation details of the methods ofFIGS. 5-6, and are not intended to be limiting to the disclosure as awhole. Numerous variations and alternatives to the details providedherein below are possible and should be considered within the scope ofthe disclosure.

3GPP Release 13 defines LTE cell coverage as normal coverage andenhanced coverage. Enhanced coverage is the coverage beyond normalcoverage, e.g., for which RSRP measurement is less than cell selectioncriterion based on Qrxlevmin and Qqualmin. Further more, enhancedcoverage is defined to have 4 levels (0/1/2/3), e.g., based on differentRSRP thresholds, and in each CE level, there is a corresponding PRACHpreamble group associated with it. So an eNodeB can detect if a UE is inenhanced coverage and in which CE level by detecting that the PRACHpreamble used by a UE for random access belongs to a particular CE levelassociated with that PRACH preamble group.

As one possibility for defining criteria for normal coverage, if cellselection criterion S (Qrxlevmin and Qqualmin) is fulfilled for a cell,a UE is be considered to be in normal coverage. If the UE is not innormal coverage, but cell selection criterion S for enhanced coverage(Qrxlevmin CE and Qqualmin_CE from CE SIB1) is fulfilled, the UE may beconsidered to be in enhanced coverage.

When a UE is in enhanced coverage, ranking with cell selection criterionS for enhanced coverage may be applied for intra- and inter-cellre-selection.

According to some embodiments, multiple Coverage Enhancement (CE) Levelsmay be defined. For example, enhanced coverage may have 4 levels,defined by RSRP thresholds provided by CE SIB2, also called PRACH CElevel 0, 1, 2 and 3. According to some embodiments, if a UE is in CElevel 0/1, it shall assume CE Mode A, while if UE is in CE level 2/3, itshall assume CE mode B.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of possible normal coverage and enhancedcoverage ranges for a cell, according to some embodiments. As shown, inthe normal coverage range 702, radio conditions may generally besufficiently good to support wideband communication using bandwidths ofup to 20 MHz with possible uplink/downlink throughput of 5 Mbps/10 Mbps.The enhanced coverage range 704 may be larger (e.g., may extend afurther distance from a base station providing the cell) than the normalcoverage range, and may potentially include areas with insufficientradio conditions to support the bandwidths and/or throughput levels ofthe normal coverage range. Radio conditions in the enhanced coveragerange 704 may be sufficient, however, to support narrowbandcommunication using 1.4 MHz with possible uplink/downlink throughput of1 Mbps/1 Mbps, e.g., at least when using the communication techniquesassociated with the enhanced coverage modes.

As noted previously herein at least with respect to FIG. 6, at least insome embodiments it may be possible to leverage the differentcommunication bandwidth characteristics of such different coverage modesto operate more efficiently based at least in part on expected upcomingdata volume, e.g., in addition to the actual coverage conditions.Accordingly, FIG. 8 illustrates an example state diagram for dynamicallyswitching between coverage modes in normal and enhanced coverageconditions based at least in part on a desired communication bandwidth,according to some embodiments.

In the example scenario of FIG. 8, a wireless device may be capable ofoperating in an idle mode or in a connected mode, as well as in a CEmode (e.g., CE mode A) or in a normal coverage mode. The wireless devicemay in some circumstances operate in the CE mode even when in normalcoverage conditions, but may generally not operate in the normalcoverage mode when in enhanced coverage conditions. Thus, the possiblestates illustrated in FIG. 8 may include operating in idle mode and CEmode while in normal coverage conditions (802) and operating inconnected mode and CE mode while in normal coverage conditions (804),which may be selected for low data volumes to potentially conservepower; operating in idle mode and normal coverage mode while in normalcoverage conditions (806) and operating in connected mode and normalcoverage mode while in normal coverage conditions (808), which may beselected for high data volumes when coverage conditions permit; andoperating in idle mode and CE mode while in enhanced coverage conditions(810) and operating in connected mode and CE mode while in enhancedcoverage conditions (812), which may be selected regardless of datavolumes when coverage conditions are sufficient for enhanced coveragebut insufficient for normal coverage.

As shown, FIG. 8 also illustrates a variety of signaling techniques thatcan be used when in the various illustrated states and to transitionbetween the illustrated states. The signaling techniques includetechniques for transitioning from idle to connected mode, which mayinclude the wireless device using CE PRACH preambles to establish an RRCconnection to transition from idle CE or normal mode to connected CEmode (whether in normal or enhanced conditions), and using normal PRACHpreambles to establish an RRC connection to transition from idle normalcoverage mode or idle CE mode in normal coverage conditions to connectednormal mode in normal conditions. In all cases of transitioning fromconnected mode to idle mode, a connection release message may beprovided from the serving cell to the wireless device, and maytransition the wireless device from connected mode to idle mode withoutmodifying whether the wireless device is in the normal mode or the CEmode.

When operating in idle and CE modes, whether in normal coverageconditions or enhanced coverage conditions, the network may performpaging using the mPDCCH, while when operating in idle and normalcoverage modes, the network may perform paging using the PDCCH. Asshown, the wireless device may be able to perform a tracking area update(TAU) procedure with the network to transition from idle and normalcoverage modes when in normal coverage conditions to idle and CE modeswhen in enhanced coverage conditions, e.g., to better enable thewireless device to receive paging messages in view of the enhancedcoverage conditions.

When operating in connected mode, the wireless device may be able toperform RRC reconfiguration to transition from the normal coverage modeto the CE mode (e.g., to configure the use of the mPDCCH for paging),whether remaining in normal coverage conditions or moving to enhancedcoverage conditions. Similarly, the wireless device may be able toperform RRC reconfiguration to transition from the CE mode to the normalcoverage mode (e.g., to configure the use of the PDCCH for paging),whether already in normal coverage conditions or moving to normalcoverage conditions. As also shown, L1 control on mPDCCH may be usedwhen operating in connected and CE modes (whether in normal or enhancedcoverage conditions); L1 control on PDCCH may be used when operating inconnected and normal coverage mode.

The following information includes further possible details of LTErelease 13 enhanced coverage mode characteristics and parameters, isprovided for exemplary illustrative purposes, and is not intended to belimiting to this disclosure as a whole.

A wireless device may be categorized according to its device categorywith respect to LTE, according to some embodiments. For example,consider a category 1 LTE device, e.g., a device that is UL Category 1and DL category 1. For such a device, a e-HARQ-pattern-FDD-r12 parametermay define whether the UE supports an enhanced HARQ pattern for TTIbundling operation for FDD, e.g., with 4 TTI bundling, 3 HARQ processes,and round trip time (RTT) of 12 ms. A ce-ModeA-r13 parameter may definewhether the UE supports operation in CE mode A and PRACH CE level 0 and1 at Random Access. A intraFreqA3-CE-ModeA-r13 parameter may definewhether the UE when operating in CE mode A supports eventA3 for intraneighboring cells in normal coverage and CE mode A. AintraFreqHO-CE-ModeA-r13 parameter may define whether the UE whenoperating in CE mode A supports intra handover to target cell in normalcoverage and CE mode A.

A new 32 bits signature in a MIB provided by a cell may be used toindicate if CE SIB1 is scheduled and its transport block size and numberof repetitions. Such a signature may indicate that the cell supports CEfeatures defined by 3GPP R13; a signature value of 0 may mean that theCE feature is not supported.

If CE features are supported by the cell, a CE SIB1 for CoverageEnhancement may be provided by the cell. A larger SI window length andrepetition pattern may be used for CE SIBs. A narrow band (e.g.,contiguous 6PRBs) and transport block size may also be used for CE SIBs.Additionally, a frequency hopping configuration may be used for CE SIBs.A CE SIB2 for Coverage Enhancement may also be provided. The CE SIBs mayindicate CE PRACH configurations and CE mPDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PCH commonconfigurations.

Each CE level supported by a serving cell may be associated with a setof PRACH resources for transmission of Random Access Preambles. The CElevel for a UE may be selected based on serving cell RSRP measurementand CE SIB2 rsrp-ThresholdsPrachInfoList. The maximum number of preambletransmission attempts (3/4/5/6/7/8/10) per each CE level may be providedby the CE SIB2. The number of repetitions (1/2/4/8/16/32/64/128)required for preamble transmission per attempt for each CE level mayalso be provided by the CE SIB2. Additionally, the narrow bands tomonitor for the mPDCCH for a RAR in each CE level, the number ofrepetitions for mPDCCH common search space for RAR, msg3 and msg4, andthe RA response window size and contention resolution Timer per CE levelmay all be provided by the CE SIB2.

If a UE is in enhanced coverage, it shall select a PRACH preamble forrandom access based on its corresponding CE level. The UE may transmit apreamble with corresponding number of repetitions, RA_RNTI, preamble indand target power.

If the UE fails on max number of random access attempts on one CE level,it shall try to random access on next CE level.

The msg3 PUSCH repetition number may be indicated in the RAR receivedfrom the network.

A parameter PUCCH-NumRepetitionCE may provide a number of PUCCHrepetitions for PUCCH format 1/1a/2/2a/2b for CE mode A.

A parameter PUCCH-numRepetitionCE-msg4-level0/1/2/3 may provide a numberof repetitions for PUCCH carrying HARQ response to PDSH containing msg4for PRACH CE level 0/1/2/3.

One paging occasion (PO) in a CE mode may include a subframe in which aP-RNTI is transmitted on the mPDCCH. The subframe may be determined bythe UE based on its IMSI, DRX cycle, and number of paging narrow bands(Nn) provided in CE SIB2.

The mPDCCH carrying a PO can be repeated multiple times, e.g., asdefined by the parameter mPDCCH-NumRepetition-Paging-R13 in CE SIB2.

Information on the coverage enhancement (CE) level, if available for theUE, may be provided transparently by the serving eNB to the MME attransition to ECM_IDLE together with the respective cell identifier, andmay be provided to the E-UTRAN during paging. Paging attempt informationmay always be provided to all paged eNBs for UEs for which theinformation on the coverage enhancement level has been received.

If paging attempt information is included in the paging message, eachpaged eNB may receive the same information during a paging attempt. Thepaging attempt count may be increased by one at each new paging attempt.The next paging area scope, when present, indicates whether the MMEplans to modify the paging area currently selected at next pagingattempt. If the UE has changed its mobility state to ECM CONNECTED thePaging Attempt Count is reset.

A PUSCH transmission in an enhanced coverage mode can be in a N-subframeTTI bundle indicated by mPDCCH. A parameterPUSCH-maxNumRepetitionCEmodeA-r13, having a value of 8/16/32, mayindicate a maximum value to indicate the set of PUSCH repetition numbersfor CE mode A, e.g., among the following possibilities: {1, 2, 4, 8},{1, 4, 8, 16}, {1, 4, 16, 32}. A parameterPUSCH-maxNumRepetionCEmodeB-r13, having a value of 192/256/ . . . /2048,may indicate a maximum value to indicate the set of PUSCH repetitionnumbers for CE mode B. The PUSCH bandwidth may be limited to 6PRB,according to some embodiments. Uplink HARQ operation may be asynchronousfor UEs in enhanced coverage except for the receptions within a bundle.

A PDSCH transmission in an enhanced coverage mode can be in a N-subframeTTI bundle indicated by mPDCCH. A parameterPDSCH-maxNumRepetionCEmodeA-r13, having a value of 8/16/32, may indicatea maximum value to indicate the set of PDSCH repetition numbers for CEmode A, e.g., among the following possibilities: {1, 2, 4, 8}, {1, 4, 8,16}, {1, 4, 16, 32}. A parameter PDSCH-maxNumRepetionCEmodeB-r13, havinga value of 192/256/ . . . /2048, may indicate a maximum value toindicate the set of PDSCH repetition number for CE mode B. The PDSCHbandwidth may be limited to 6PRB, according to some embodiments.

The mPDCCH provided in an enhanced coverage mode may utilize arepetition level among the following repetition levels: {1, 2, 4, 8, 16,32, 64, 128, 256}. The mPDCCH aggregation level may be among thefollowing aggregation levels: {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 12, 24}. The mPDCCHbandwidth may be limited to 6PRB, according to some embodiments.

An existing NW configuration for VoLTE may include PUSCH 4TTIB, 4HARQ,HARQ RTT 16 ms, with one/two audio packet bundling, TBS 208 bits/328bits, segment 144/176 bits, 4 HARQ transmissions. An increase in HARQtransmissions from 4 to 7 could result in a link budget gain (e.g., ˜2dB, as one possibility).

A possible mPDCCH/PUSCH configuration in CE mode A could include PUSCH8TTIB, 3 HARQ, HARQ RTT 24 ms, mPDCCH with 4 repetitions. For one audiopacket bundling, TBS 208 bits, segment 144/176 bits, 5/6/7 HARQtransmissions could be used. For two audio packet bundling, TBS 328bits, segment 144/176 bits, 5/6/7 HARQ transmissions could be used. Thismay provide a potential UL link budget gain of ˜4-5 dB, as onepossibility.

Another possible mPDCCH/PUSCH in CE mode A could include PUSCH 8TTIB, 2HARQ, HARQ RTT 16 ms, mPDCCH with 2 repetitions. For one audio packetbundling, TBS 208 bits, segment 144/176 bits, HARQ 8/9/10 transmissionscould be used. For two audio packet bundling, TBS 328 bits, segment144/176 bits, HARQ 8/9/10 transmissions could be used. This may providea potential UL link budget gain of ˜6 dB-7 dB, as one possibility.

Another possible mPDCCH/PUSCH in CE mode A could include PUSCH 4TTIB, 3HARQ, HARQ RTT 12 ms, mPDCCH with 2 repetitions. For one audio packetbundling, TBS 208 bits, segment 144/176 bits, HARQ 10/11/12transmissions could be used. For two audio packet bundling, TBS 328bits, segment 144/176 bits, HARQ 10/11/12 transmissions could be used.This may provide a potential UL link budget gain of ˜4 dB-5 dB, as onepossibility.

For a UE with category 1 and above, when in a coverage beyond normalcoverage, in order to not go out-of-service (OOS), it may be possiblefor a wireless device to dynamically utilize coverage enhancementfeature if it is supported by eNodeB. As part of such techniques, when acell is selected as serving cell to camp on, a UE may determine if thecell supports 3GPP R13 coverage enhancement feature by checking if theCE signature present in MIB. If CE is supported on the serving cell, theUE may store CE SIBS for CE level thresholds, CE PRACH and mPDCCHconfigurations.

When in idle mode, based on serving cell measurements, the UE maydetermine if it is in normal coverage or enhanced coverage and itscorresponding CE level. If the UE is entering enhanced coverage fromnormal coverage, UE may utilize the configuration information from theCE SIBs to establish a mobility management connection (perform a TAU orsend any other MM message) to update its MME to switch to CE mode idlepaging. The UE may switch to listen to the mPDCCH for idle paging. Whenthe MME eventually pages the UE, the MME may send the UE's CE levelinformation and page attempt count information to a group of eNodeBs.Each eNodeB in the group may thus determine to page the UE on the mPDCCHif the UE is in enhanced coverage, and may otherwise page the UE on thePDCCH. Additionally, the UE's intra/inter cell re-selection may be basedon cell selection criterion S for enhanced coverage (e.g., instead ofcell selection criterion S for normal coverage).

If the UE is entering normal coverage from enhanced coverage, the UE maycontinue to listen to the mPDCCH for idle paging, or may establish amobility management connection (e.g., perform a TAU) to update MME toswitch to normal mode idle paging, in which case the UE may switch tolisten to the PDCCH for idle paging. Additionally, its intra/inter cellre-selection may be based on cell selection criterion S for normalcoverage (e.g., instead of cell selection criterion S for enhancedcoverage).

When establishing a RRC connection, if the UE is in normal coverage, itmay select a PRACH preamble for normal coverage for performing a randomaccess procedure. If the UE is in enhanced coverage, it may select aPRACH preamble from the corresponding enhanced coverage level forperforming a random access procedure.

When exiting a RRC connection, if the UE is in normal coverage, it mayenter idle mode in normal coverage, read normal SIBs, and listen to thePDCCH for idle paging. If the UE is in enhanced coverage, it may enteridle mode in enhanced coverage, read CE SIBS, and listen to the mPDCCHfor idle paging.

During an RRC connection, if the UE is entering enhanced coverage fromnormal coverage, the UE may use a PRACH preamble from its correspondingCE level to re-establish the RRC connection; or, alternatively, the NWmay reconfigure the RRC connection to use the mPDCCH, e.g., based on aUE triggered measurement report. If the UE is entering normal coveragefrom enhanced coverage, the UE may use a PRACH preamble for normalcoverage to re-establish the RRC connection; or, alternatively, the mayNW reconfigure the RRC connection to use the PDCCH, e.g., based on a UEtriggered measurement report. The NW may perform NW triggered HO from acell in enhanced coverage to a cell in normal coverage, or a cell innormal coverage to a cell in enhanced coverage. The UE may trigger RRCre-establishment to a cell in normal coverage from a cell in enhancedcoverage, or from a cell in normal coverage to a cell in enhancedcoverage.

In the following further exemplary embodiments are provided.

One set of embodiments may include a method for a wireless device,comprising: attaching to a serving cell associated with a cellularnetwork; determining a volume of data for upcoming communication withthe cellular network; providing an indication of a requestedcommunication bandwidth to the serving cell; and communicating data withthe serving cell using the requested communication bandwidth.

According to some embodiments, the method further comprises determiningwhether the volume of data is above a data volume threshold.

According to some embodiments, the indication of the requestedcommunication bandwidth comprises a buffer status report indicating thevolume of data for upcoming communication with the cellular network.

According to some embodiments, the indication of the requestedcommunication bandwidth comprises a media access control (MAC) controlelement or a radio resource control (RRC) message requesting acommunication bandwidth mode from a plurality of possible communicationbandwidth modes.

According to some embodiments, the indication of the requestedcommunication bandwidth comprises one of: a request for a widebandcommunication bandwidth; or a request for a narrowband communicationbandwidth.

According to some embodiments, the method further comprises: configuringRF circuitry of the wireless device to operate in a narrowbandcommunication mode or a wideband communication mode based at least inpart on providing the indication of the requested communicationbandwidth.

According to some embodiments, communicating data with the serving cellusing a wideband communication bandwidth comprises operating in a normalcoverage mode, wherein communicating data with the serving cell using anarrowband communication bandwidth comprises operating in a coverageenhancement mode.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for a wireless device,comprising: attaching to a serving cell associated with a cellularnetwork; determining that the serving cell supports a normal coveragemode and a coverage enhancement (CE) mode; determining whether radioconditions for the wireless device correspond to the normal coveragemode or the CE mode; determining a volume of data for upcomingcommunication with the cellular network; determining whether to operatein the normal coverage mode or the CE mode based in least in part on theradio conditions and the volume of data; and providing an indication tothe serving cell to enable the determined mode for the wireless device.

According to some embodiments, the method further comprises: determiningto operate in the normal coverage mode when radio conditions for thewireless device correspond to the normal coverage mode and the volume ofdata for upcoming communication with the cellular network is above adata volume threshold; and determining to operate in the CE mode whenradio conditions for the wireless device correspond to the CE mode orwhen the volume of data for upcoming communication with the cellularnetwork is below the data volume threshold.

According to some embodiments, the method further comprises: configuringRF circuitry of the wireless device to operate in a narrowbandcommunication mode when the CE mode is enabled; and configuring RFcircuitry of the wireless device to operate in a wideband communicationmode when the normal coverage mode is enabled.

According to some embodiments, determining the volume of data comprisesdetermining one or more types of current data activity at the wirelessdevice.

A further set of embodiments may include a method for a wireless device,comprising: camping on a serving cell provided by a base station;determining that the serving cell supports a normal coverage mode and acoverage enhancement (CE) mode; determining that radio conditions forthe wireless device correspond to the normal coverage mode; operating inthe normal coverage mode based at least in part on determining thatradio conditions for the wireless device correspond to the normalcoverage mode; determining that radio conditions for the wireless devicehave changed to correspond to the CE mode; and providing an indicationto the base station to enable the CE mode for the wireless device basedat least in part on determining that radio conditions for the wirelessdevice have changed to correspond to the CE mode.

According to some embodiments, determining that radio conditions for thewireless device have changed to correspond to the CE mode and providingthe indication to the base station to enable the CE mode for thewireless device are performed while the wireless device is in an idlemode.

According to some embodiments, determining that radio conditions for thewireless device have changed to correspond to the CE mode and providingthe indication to the base station to enable the CE mode for thewireless device are performed while the wireless device is in aconnected mode.

According to some embodiments, providing the indication to the basestation to enable the CE mode for the wireless device comprisesperforming a random access channel procedure using a physical randomaccess channel preamble associated with the CE mode.

According to some embodiments, providing the indication to the basestation to enable the CE mode for the wireless device causes the basestation to perform idle mode paging using a different control channelthan when operating in the normal coverage mode.

According to some embodiments, the serving cell is associated with acellular network, wherein the cellular network further comprises amobility management entity, and the method further comprises: providingan indication to the mobility management entity to enable the CE modefor the wireless device based at least in part on determining that radioconditions for the wireless device have changed to correspond to the CEmode.

According to some embodiments, the method further comprises: monitoringa control channel associated with the normal coverage mode when radioconditions for the wireless device are in a first range corresponding tothe normal coverage mode; monitoring a control channel associated withthe CE mode when radio conditions for the wireless device are in asecond range corresponding to the CE mode; and monitoring both thecontrol channel associated with the normal coverage mode and the pagingchannel associated with the CE mode when radio conditions for thewireless device are in a range between the first range and the secondrange.

According to some embodiments, wherein the method further comprises:providing an indication to the base station to always perform idle modepaging using a control channel associated with the CE mode; andmonitoring the control channel associated with the CE mode both whenradio conditions for the wireless device correspond to the normalcoverage mode and when radio conditions for the wireless devicecorrespond to the CE mode.

According to some embodiments, the method further comprises: determiningthat radio conditions for the wireless device have changed to correspondto the normal coverage mode; and providing an indication to the basestation to enable the normal coverage mode for the wireless device basedat least in part on determining that radio conditions for the wirelessdevice have changed to correspond to the normal coverage mode.

A further exemplary set of embodiments may include an apparatus,comprising a processing element configured to cause a device toimplement any or all parts of the preceding examples.

Another exemplary set of embodiments may include a wireless device,comprising: an antenna; a radio coupled to the antenna; and a processingelement operably coupled to the radio, wherein the device is configuredto implement any or all parts of the preceding examples.

A yet further exemplary set of embodiments may include a non-transitorycomputer accessible memory medium comprising program instructions which,when executed at a device, cause the device to implement any or allparts of any of the preceding examples.

A still further exemplary set of embodiments may include a computerprogram comprising instructions for performing any or all parts of anyof the preceding examples.

Yet another exemplary set of embodiments may include an apparatuscomprising means for performing any or all of the elements of any of thepreceding examples.

In addition to the above-described exemplary embodiments, furtherembodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of variousforms. For example some embodiments may be realized as acomputer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or acomputer system. Other embodiments may be realized using one or morecustom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other embodimentsmay be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory mediummay be configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data,where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, causethe computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE 106 or 107) may be configuredto include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium,where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processoris configured to read and execute the program instructions from thememory medium, where the program instructions are executable toimplement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or,any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, anysubset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any ofvarious forms.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a processor configuredto cause a base station to: establish a radio resource control (RRC)connection with a wireless device served by a serving cell provided bythe base station; receive a first RRC message from the wireless device,wherein the RRC message comprises a first indication of a preferreduplink communication bandwidth mode and a second indication of apreferred downlink communication bandwidth mode; wherein the preferreduplink communication bandwidth mode is one of a plurality of uplinkcommunication bandwidth modes, wherein the preferred uplinkcommunication bandwidth mode comprises a first maximum uplinkcommunication bandwidth for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) ofthe serving cell, wherein at least one of the plurality of uplinkcommunication bandwidth modes comprises a maximum uplink communicationbandwidth of 1.4 MHz; wherein the preferred downlink communicationbandwidth mode is one of a plurality of downlink communication bandwidthmodes, wherein the preferred downlink communication bandwidth modecomprises a first maximum downlink communication bandwidth for aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) of the serving cell, wherein atleast one of the plurality of downlink communication bandwidth modescomprises a maximum downlink communication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz;transmit, to the wireless device, a second RRC message configuring andconfirming the preferred uplink communication bandwidth mode and thepreferred downlink communication bandwidth mode in response to the firstRRC message; and communicate data with the wireless device using thepreferred uplink communication bandwidth mode and the preferred downlinkcommunication bandwidth mode.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to cause the base station to: when thewireless device is in a connected mode of operation after establishingthe RRC connection with the wireless device, communicate with thewireless device in a second uplink communication bandwidth mode and asecond downlink communication bandwidth mode, wherein the second uplinkand downlink communication bandwidth modes are limited, respectively, tothe maximum uplink communication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz and the maximumdownlink communication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz; and when the wirelessdevice is in an idle mode of operation after establishing the RRCconnection with the wireless device, transmit, to the wireless device, apaging indication using a narrowband physical control channel accordingto the second mode.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processoris further configured to cause the base station to: advertise a firstcoverage mode supported by the base station.
 4. The apparatus of claim3, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the base stationto: indicate a first signal strength range associated with the firstcoverage mode.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processor isfurther configured to cause the base station to: indicate a first signalquality range associated with the first coverage mode.
 6. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to cause thebase station to: receive, from the wireless device, an indication of asecond preferred uplink communication bandwidth mode; and communicatewith the wireless device using the second preferred uplink communicationbandwidth mode.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of amaximum uplink communication bandwidth or a maximum downlinkcommunication bandwidth is configured separately from a coverage mode.8. A base station, comprising: a radio; and a processor operablyconnected to the radio and configured to cause the base station to:establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a wirelessdevice served by a serving cell provided by the base station; receive afirst RRC message from the wireless device, wherein the RRC messagecomprises a first indication of a preferred uplink communicationbandwidth mode and a second indication of a preferred downlinkcommunication bandwidth mode; wherein the preferred uplink communicationbandwidth mode is one of a plurality of uplink communication bandwidthmodes, wherein the preferred uplink communication bandwidth modecomprises a first maximum uplink communication bandwidth for a physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH) of the serving cell, wherein at least oneof the plurality of uplink communication bandwidth modes comprises amaximum uplink communication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz; wherein the preferreddownlink communication bandwidth mode is one of a plurality of downlinkcommunication bandwidth modes, wherein the preferred downlinkcommunication bandwidth mode comprises a first maximum downlinkcommunication bandwidth for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)of the serving cell, wherein at least one of the plurality of downlinkcommunication bandwidth modes comprises a maximum downlink communicationbandwidth of 1.4 MHz; transmit, to the wireless device, a second RRCmessage configuring and confirming the preferred uplink communicationbandwidth mode and the preferred downlink communication bandwidth modein response to the first RRC message; and communicate data with thewireless device using the preferred uplink communication bandwidth modeand the preferred downlink communication bandwidth mode.
 9. The basestation of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to causethe base station to: when the wireless device is in a connected mode ofoperation after establishing the RRC connection with the wirelessdevice, communicate with the wireless device in a second uplinkcommunication bandwidth mode and a second downlink communicationbandwidth mode, wherein the second uplink and downlink communicationbandwidth modes are limited, respectively, to the maximum uplinkcommunication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz and the maximum downlinkcommunication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz; and when the wireless device is inan idle mode of operation after establishing the RRC connection with thewireless device, transmit, to the wireless device, a paging indicationusing a narrowband physical control channel according to the secondmode.
 10. The base station of claim 8, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to cause the base station to: advertise a first coverage modesupported by the base station.
 11. The base station of claim 10, whereinthe processor is further configured to cause the base station to:indicate a first signal strength range associated with the firstcoverage mode.
 12. The base station of claim 10, wherein the processoris further configured to cause the base station to: indicate a firstsignal quality range associated with the first coverage mode.
 13. Thebase station of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured tocause the base station to: receive, from the wireless device, anindication of a second preferred uplink communication bandwidth mode;and communicate with the wireless device using the second preferreduplink communication bandwidth mode.
 14. The base station of claim 8,wherein at least one of a maximum uplink communication bandwidth or amaximum downlink communication bandwidth is configured separately from acoverage mode.
 15. A method for operating a base station, the methodcomprising: at the base station: establishing a radio resource control(RRC) connection with a wireless device served by a serving cellprovided by the base station; receiving a first RRC message from thewireless device, wherein the RRC message comprises a first indication ofa preferred uplink communication bandwidth mode and a second indicationof a preferred downlink communication bandwidth mode; wherein thepreferred uplink communication bandwidth mode is one of a plurality ofuplink communication bandwidth modes, wherein the preferred uplinkcommunication bandwidth mode comprises a first maximum uplinkcommunication bandwidth for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) ofthe serving cell, wherein at least one of the plurality of uplinkcommunication bandwidth modes comprises a maximum uplink communicationbandwidth of 1.4 MHz; wherein the preferred downlink communicationbandwidth mode is one of a plurality of downlink communication bandwidthmodes, wherein the preferred downlink communication bandwidth modecomprises a first maximum downlink communication bandwidth for aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) of the serving cell, wherein atleast one of the plurality of downlink communication bandwidth modescomprises a maximum downlink communication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz;transmitting, to the wireless device, a second RRC message configuringand confirming the preferred uplink communication bandwidth mode and thepreferred downlink communication bandwidth mode in response to the firstRRC message; and communicating data with the wireless device using thepreferred uplink communication bandwidth mode and the preferred downlinkcommunication bandwidth mode.
 16. The method of claim 15, the methodfurther comprising: when the wireless device is in a connected mode ofoperation after establishing the RRC connection with the wirelessdevice, communicating with the wireless device in a second uplinkcommunication bandwidth mode and a second downlink communicationbandwidth mode, wherein the second uplink and downlink communicationbandwidth modes are limited, respectively, to the maximum uplinkcommunication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz and the maximum downlinkcommunication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz; and when the wireless device is inan idle mode of operation after establishing the RRC connection with thewireless device, transmitting, to the wireless device, a pagingindication using a narrowband physical control channel according to thesecond mode.
 17. The method of claim 15, the method further comprising:advertising a first coverage mode supported by the base station.
 18. Themethod of claim 17, the method further comprising: indicating a firstsignal strength range associated with the first coverage mode.
 19. Themethod of claim 15, the method further comprising: receiving, from thewireless device, an indication of a second preferred uplinkcommunication bandwidth mode; and communicating with the wireless deviceusing the second preferred uplink communication bandwidth mode.
 20. Themethod of claim 15, wherein at least one of a maximum uplinkcommunication bandwidth or a maximum downlink communication bandwidth isconfigured separately from a coverage mode.